by Michael Seese
Funny. Funny. Funny. Funny. Funny.
Did I make it clear that "The Wrong Stuff" had some humorous moments in it? It was a thigh-slapper to be sure, though it surprised me with some bonus depth at the end, specifically, Beckett comparing the astronauts' close-quarter plight with theirs.
As is typical, they seem to follow the dark episodes (in this case the deep dark Resurrection and Reckoning, back to back) with a light one. I filled a page with quips before the first commercial break.
Nice touch aside: Replacing the skyline of NYC with Mars.
(Bear in mind, it's not always the words alone, but the delivery as well.)
Castle: "You're playing laser tag without me?"
Castle: "Are those my pajamas?" And though I didn't write down the full line, I loved his follow up which noted that they were his softest pajamas, and now he had to "burn them."
Beckett: "We've got a murder. To solve. Not commit."
Beckett: "We're bound to step on each others' toes."
Castle: "Yeah, but there were a lot more toes tonight."
Beckett: "You signed up to go to Mars? When?"
Castle: "A couple of years ago."
Beckett: "Where was I?"
Castle: "We were fighting."
(And then reversing the conversation later.)
Beckett: "Even when you whisper, everyone can hear you."
Then four great cultural references:
Castle: "One small murder for man. One giant mystery for mankind."
Castle: "Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of Castle and Beckett. They're ongoing mission to explore strange, new motives. To seek out new witnesses, new suspects for murder. To boldly go... Oh, right over here."
Jansen: "She's more Siri than HAL."
Castle: "There goes my Rise Of The Machines theory."
(And to make sure everyone got in on the parade.)
Alexis: "Wow, you guys. Get a room."
Castle: "We would if there was any place left."
Castle: "I'm checking you for bites and scratches. Just making sure you didn’t somehow get impregnated."
Beckett: "If you think that’s how I’d get pregnant, we need to talk."
Whew! That's plenty.
Plus there was joy a-plenty. Castle's slow-mo Mars-hop, and Esposito's chase ("Where are you going to go?") come to mind.
SPOILERS NOW.
This may be the first time Castle ever had a triple homicide, though in this case, "triple" refers to the murderers.
I do have to mention my picky aside, since this dances right up to being such a gaping logical flaw that the whole enterprise (pun intended) falls apart. Simple question: why kill Richwood? No doubt the debriefing would include thoughts on the personnel. If everyone (or even 3 of the 5) said "This guy would drive us nuts," he'd be booted.
Oh well. I still enjoyed "The Wrong Stuff." How about you?
by Michael Seese
I think I have to christen a new category of Castle. There are the straight-up murders. There are the Scooby mysteries. And now we have Castle rescuing someone he loves, which is just a whole new level. Like Hunt several years back, Reckoning was a great episode.
Let me launch the SPOILER ALERT by saying I SO CALLED IT!
This episode was less about lines and looks -- in fact, I wrote down one funny line -- and more about exchanges.
It was great to see Captain Gates warming up to Castle when she spoke with him and told him what Beckett said she saw in him.
I loved the dialogue between Ryan and Castle. "I could have had him," Ryan lamented.
Castle was great when he met with Tyson's former cellmate and convinced him to share information. A minor kudos to the writers here. When they showed Castle driving out by himself, I screamed, "Idiot!" But then we heard the cellmate say, "When he sees the cops coming..."
The conversation between Beckett and Dr. Nieman was so cool, and cold. Of course, the Dr. Nieman character oozes creepy coldness. And I will cite a line here: "Please do not scream. It's tedious and no one can hear you."
Quick aside: a bottle of Malbec on the table at Tyson's hideout. At least he has good choice in wine.
And finally, the standoff between Castle and Tyson was just breathtaking. Here, I will gloat...
SPOILER
... that the minute they started talking, I said something to the effect of, "Castle set this up." My thought was that he was carrying an unloaded gun (which he knew Tyson would take) and had a loaded gun hidden elsewhere.
Major kudos for what I thought was a very cool camera trick. Specifically, the part where Captain Gates is briefing the squad, and Castle looks to his side and whispers, "We're not going to find her. Not like this," ostensibly to himself. Later, the camera pans around, and we see he was talking to Ryan and Esposito. They we get the quick fill-in on the plan.
I do need to serve up a few nitpicks...
- I know Ryan ran up and checked Tyson. Still, he's escaped death before. So I would have liked cold, hard closure, as in someone saying, "He's dead." (Though the red spot in the middle of his chest would largely clinch it.)
- So if I understand it, Dr. Nieman's plan was to cut off Kate's face and then... surgically remove her own, and sew Kate's on? And do this herself?
- I understand they wanted the "Hollywood ending." But Castle, Ryan, and Esposito were in the middle of nowhere. Unless Beckett was being held at the next farmhouse over, there had to be some other NYPD officer who could have gotten there first.
Still, these little gripes don't detract from the overall quality of the episode.
And let's close with the one funny line.
Castle: "I'm being un-banned?"
Next week looks like another Scooby episode.
So what did you think of Reckoning?
